I have always wondered this. Here is an excerpt from a Slate article:
The camera's perspective—how objects in a two-dimensional field express depth—can also distort a person's size. Telephoto lenses, which have a long focal length, compress the space between the foreground and the background, making distant objects appear closer. Up close, they shrink the distance from your nose to your ears, resulting in a diminished proboscis and more balanced features. (That's why paparazzi use telephoto lenses—for flattery as well as magnification.) Wide angle lenses, which have a short focal length, do just the opposite, making a person in the center of the picture appear both wider and taller. At the extreme, these lenses can also make people at the outside edges of a group photo look fatter.
But why do those ten lbs linger on me even when the camera is off is the question!!!!!
=)
Posted by: Beebs | February 28, 2007 at 07:51 AM